


givin' up the ghost

by ohkeiji



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Banter, Ghosts, Late at Night, M/M, Pining Lance (Voltron), dumbass lance, lance sees ghosts
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-31
Updated: 2019-08-31
Packaged: 2020-10-03 19:43:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,145
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20458430
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ohkeiji/pseuds/ohkeiji
Summary: Lance works late night shifts at a semi-decent hotel/motel with his hot co-worker who frequently ignores him. Also, he sees ghosts.





	givin' up the ghost

**Author's Note:**

> I WROTE THIS IN MAY  
title from ghost by mystery skulls

The clock reads 11:43PM when Lance sees the old lady.

She’s sitting alone at a table by the window, looking absently at the pool, where the lights flash and swim in the water. She doesn’t have anything in front of her, or any bags or luggage.

Lance turns to look at Keith, whose scrolling away on his phone. If he looks really hard, he can see the earbuds hidden away by his dark hair, and if he listens even harder, he can very faintly hear music.

He decides to abandon his usual game of guessing what Keith is doing or what Keith is listening to, and stands. Keith glances at him but, upon seeing Lance looking back, immediately returns his gaze to his phone. Lance avoids thinking about if that hurts his feelings or not, and steps out from behind the desk to approach the woman.

The hotel always feels surreal this late at night. The lights hum and flicker overhead. It’s too late for many, if any, people to swing by. A glance out the window reveals it’s pitch black outside, but once his eyes adjust, Lance can make out the faint outlines of the mountains several miles outside of town.

He turns his gaze to the old woman, who kind of reminds him of his grandma. She hasn’t noticed him, even now that he’s standing right at her table. He clears his throat. She still doesn’t move.

“Excuse me, ma’am?” Lance says. His voice is jarring in the silence of the lobby. He squints at the old woman as she finally turns to face him, and abruptly notices something  _ off _ about her--

“Lance, what are you doing?” Keith calls out. Lance whips around to look at him, see he’s holding an earbud in one hand and his phone in the other with his feet kicked up on the desk, and turns back around and looks at the woman only she’s  _ gone _ .

“I…” Lance blinks hard a couple times, turning his head left to right to see if maybe she moved tables? Really fast? He even looks up and down, as if she suddenly hid under the table or developed Spiderman powers and climbed up the walls, but no luck.

He suddenly remembers that Keith asked him a question, that Keith  _ talked _ to him and he has his attention (for once). “I, um.” He stops, realizing he has no idea what to say.

Keith gives him a long look. Lance opens and closes his mouth, unable to find an excuse, and Keith quirks an eyebrow.

“Did you see that lady?” Lance finally blurts. He waves a hand over his shoulder, gesturing to the table she had been sitting at.

“What lady?” Keith asks. He drops his feet to the ground and instead props his elbows on the desk. “Was she outside?”

“I, um… Yes.” Lance lies. He takes a step towards the desk, then pauses, as if his getting closer would make Keith stop talking and go back to doing whatever he was doing on his phone. Keith’s eyes on him makes him heady, bordering on feeling like too much but also not enough at all. 

“Is she still there?” Now Keith stands, leaving his phone and earbuds as he slips out from behind the desk. “Shiro will be pissed if someone managed to hop the fence again.”

“Again?” Lance asks weakly, feeling a mild panic that Keith is now approaching him. “Has that happened before?”

“Unfortunately.” Keith grumbles as he gets to the window. His shoulder  _ almost _ brushes Lance’s, and he holds his breath as he watches him peer out the window.

“She was, um, in the parking lot, I think.” Lance says uncertainly.

Keith pulls back from the window and gives Lance a dubious look. “And you saw her from the front desk?”

“Yeah.” Lance answers defensively. “‘Cos I actually pay attention when I’m working.”

Keith’s expression changes from confused to mad to amused in under a second. He crosses his arms. Lance’s heart pounds rapidly, fearful that he’s crossed some line.

“Fair point.” Keith shrugs, then turns his head to look out the window again. Lance sees his jawline in all its glory and thinks that he might have a heart attack. “Still, I’m surprised you can see when it’s so dark out.”

“I eat a lot of carrots.” Lance blurts, and immediately wants to punch himself in the face. He’s not  _ technically  _ lying, sure, but the truth makes him feel painfully awkward. He wants the ground to open up underneath him and swallow him whole.

Keith, to his credit, don’t seem phased by Lance’s bluntness. Instead, he lets out an exhale through his nose and shakes his head. When he looks at Lance again, there’s a slight smile on his face, maybe more of a smirk than anything else. “Maybe I should eat more carrots.” He pulls a face. “Actually, no. I don’t like carrots.”

“You don’t like carrots?” Lance asks. “Dude, carrots are dope.”

The comment gets a snort out of Keith. “You have the vocabulary of a 12 year old boy.”

“It’s the truth!” Lance insists. He isn’t sure why, but Keith’s reaction is getting a rise out of him. “They’re crunchy, and you can dip them in shit. What’s not to like?”

“They’re crunchy water, Lance.” Keith deadpans as he turns around and walks back across the lobby to the front desk. Lance is quick to tail him.

“Again-- what’s not to like?” Lance persists. Keith sits down again and, to Lance’s surprise, his phone stays face down on the desk.

“They’re  _ boring _ .” Keith emphasizes the word. “If I wanted crunchy water, I’d just chew ice.”

Lance settles back into his seat. “ _ But _ , chewing ice is bad for your teeth. Chewing carrots, however, is not.” He raises a finger to emphasize his point.

Keith looks stumped for a moment, but then counters. “Carrots aren’t cold.”

“Fridge.”

Keith’s nose scrunches up as he thinks of another argument, and Lance feels his heart go wild in his chest because it’s so damn  _ cute _ . His brain stalls at the thought-- Keith is broad shouldered and muscular and just generally very  _ masculine _ , but somehow still cute and it kinda hurts his brain to think about too much so Lance stops and focuses back on what Keith is saying now.

“I still don’t like carrots.” Keith says petulantly. His chin is raised up, but he’s staring at the floor and his arms are crossed. Now, it’s Lance who snorts.

“I’m gonna bring carrots with me to work from now on, and I’ll crunch on ‘em so loud you’ll be able to hear them even with your earbuds.” Lance declares, feeling victorious.

Keith looks up, appalled. “I’d kill you.”

Lance grins back wickedly. “I’d like to see you try, mullet.”

He has a feeling his next few shifts are gonna be fun.

**Author's Note:**

> despite writing this months ago i do have an idea for another chapter or two of this *but* idk if i'll actually write them so i'll just post this and see what feedback i get  
speaking of which... kudos/comments r greatly appreciated.... also here's my [tumblr](https://ohkeiji.tumblr.com/) if u wanna chat


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